Pilot-symbol-aided 16QAM with selection diversity over frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channels

This paper compares the effectiveness of three selection diversity reception schemes on the bit-error-rate (BER) performance of a PSA-16QAM system over frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channels. The first selection scheme is based on the fading distortion information on the received pilot symbols, the second scheme is based on the signal strength of the received pilot symbol and data symbols, and the third scheme is based on the energy of the received pilot symbol and data symbols. Computer simulation results have shown that the three selection schemes have very similar BER performance in most of the tested conditions.